The Crack in the Diamond Soul
by hey-its-raye
Summary: Gideon knows of a powerful genie residing in the forests of Gravity Falls, but when he reaches the cave it insists that only two halves of a diamond soul may enter - I think we all know who that's going to be
1. Chapter 1

The stars above Gravity Falls flickered in the midnight sky, staring down at the inhabitants of the town. All were peacefully in their homes, fast asleep under the light of the crescent moon. All were safe from the werewolves that roamed the forest and the vampires that lurked in the shadows and the faeries that danced on the glowing waters of the lake, sending musical ripples along the surface. All were silent. All accept one.

A dark man waited, with a dark purpose. Gideon Gleeful, beloved by all the town, stood waiting at the top of a hill, shrouded in shadows. His powder blue suit seemed to suck all the light out of the air around him, cloaking him from any wandering eyes. His hands were tucked in to the crooks of his folded arms, and he shivered as the winter cold swirled around him, the wind an eerie whisper in the night.

He was facing away from the trees when a scarred face split the shadows amongst them, followed by a body that was only half human. Light footfalls padded across the grass, and the beast stood proud in front of the boy. "You're late," Gideon chastised, the dark undertones of his voice contradicting his cheery persona. Gideon focused on staring into the eyes of his company rather than at his hooves.

"One thousand apologies," the creature bowed low at Gideon's shined black shoes.

Gideon waved him off. "Yes, yes. Do you have it?" he asked, his patience diminished, cold blue eyes narrowed. He was chilled to the bone, and if he didn't return home soon someone would realise he was missing. It was becoming a hassle to lie to them so often, and they had made a habit of asking too many questions. But that would all be over soon.

"I had to cut a few throats, but I got it." The satyr answered, reaching a hand into his satchel. He pulled out two gold pieces and brandished them to the boy. Gideon's eyes shone with delight, and he reached out his hand. The satyr snapped his outstretched hand back before Gideon's stubby fingers could ghost over the relics. "Ah ah ah," the satyr shook a finger at the boy, "You promised me _treasure_."

Gideon laughed, maybe a little forcefully. "Trust me, my treacherous friend," his hand reached out and snatched the pieces away from the other's, his eyes promising pain if he dared to try that again, "You'll get what's coming to you." The satyr let out a started cry as Gideon admired the two pieces, nestled in the palm on his hand.

He grinned as he brought his hands together, slowly. He could feel the electricity thrumming through the artefacts as their smooth edges came closer to each other, itching to interlock. Like magnets, each edge called out to the other, and Gideon gasped at the flicker of blue as the sides grew closer.

The pieces clicked together.

As soon as they touched, the golden triangle glowed a brilliant blue, and was engulfed in flames. Gideon dropped the hot metal and scowled down at his burnt hands, an angry red triangle marring the soft skin. The triangle floated in front of his face, the flame flickering and growing for a second before the amulet flew higher, whizzing around in the air. It circled Gideon twice, then crashed past the treeline to fly through the trees.

"Follow that triangle!" Gideon screamed, his little legs already pumping to keep up with the gold and blue streak. "Don't lose its trail!" With every inch that the triangle flew, it left a trail of bright blue sparks, as well as a burn mark on any trees that got too close.

The glowing shape stretched a few feet away, then a few metres. "Faster!" Gideon yelled, scrambling to keep upright on the jagged forest floor. Every tree root threatened to trip him up. Every leaf and twig that scratched his face slowed him down and clouded his vision.

Gideon's breath was coming in short sharp bursts and his legs were screaming at him to stop. He sprinted after the triangle, yelling at it to slow down. But it didn't. Not until it neared a large waterfall, so tall Gideon couldn't see the top of it over the canopy of trees. The triangle floated there for a moment, and then plunged into the water with a resonating 'plop'.

For a moment, there was nothing, and the pool glowed with the light of the fire. The light flickered, then blazed, and the water began to bubble. It boiled, spitting droplets at Gideon and the satyr, and Gideon yelped when a scolding drop hit his cheek, shuffling back a couple of steps. The satyr gasped when the water began to rise.

Slowly at first, then faster, a dome began to form in the centre of the lagoon, a hole forming at its centre and tunnelling deep down beneath the water's surface. The watery hill grew and grew, until it was almost the size of a house, and then it stopped. The vast hole gaped at them, the triangle hovering in the centre of the hole staring straight out at them like an eye of hell.

"At last!" Gideon finally managed to shriek, jumping up and down with excitement. "After all those years of searching, I've finally found it! Oh, I could kiss something right now!"

The satyr took a step away. "Mierda," he whispered to himself, marking the sign of the cross against his torso. The jagged scars all over his body were illuminated by the brilliant blue cast down on him.

"Now!" Gideon grabbed the satyr's vest and dragged him down to look in his eyes. "Remember! Bring me the lamp! The rest of the treasure is yours but the lamp is _mine_." Gideon shoved the creature forward.

The satyr chuckled, rubbing his hands together as he thought of all the treasure buried beneath the waters. His steps became more cautious as he reached the waters edge. Peering down into the fiery blue abyss, he lifted a tentative hoof and dipped it into the waters, surprised to find it neither hot nor cold. His foot, barely three inches into the water, was met with something solid, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He was thrown away from the pool, screaming.

"Who dares disturbs my slumber?" A source less voice demanded, rumbling through the forest and shaking the ground. A few rocks fell into the iridescent pool, and the fires in the pit flared, sending a wave of heat towards the two males.

The satyr whimpered. "It is- it is I, Grouper. The humble satyr." He scrambled to his feet. His voice shook, as did his body, and Gideon rolled his eyes at him.

"Know this – only two halves of a whole may enter here." The deep voice boomed, and Gideon frowned – he didn't remember reading _that_ in the journal. "Two who are worth much more than what lies within. Twin diamonds in the rough."

The flames died back down, and Grouper cast a glance to Gideon, his eyes begging to be let out of the deal. Gideon scowled. This could all be a test of faith. "What are you waiting for? Go!"

Grouper gulped, and turned slowly back to face the gaping hole in the water. He took a step in, and nothing happened. He ignored the way the cavern seemed to breathe, and took another step. Then another. Gideon chuckled darkly – he didn't need something special to enter the cave. The water gave out an almighty roar, and the satyr squealed. Gideon winced – he spoke too soon. The water crashed down, beating against Grouper, and the fire flared up once again and claimed the satyr's body. He screamed, and the water tugged on him, dragging him to the bottom of the fiery pool.

The two halves of the triangle were spat out, and the light in the water fizzled out with one final warning. "Seek out the diamonds in the rough."

Gideon screamed in frustration, dragging his hands through his hair and pulling out thick tufts of white. "I can't believe this! I can not _believe_ this! I am _never_ gonna get a hold of this _stupid lamp_!"

Gideon froze, fist half way to punching a tree, and a devious smile stretched across his face. He giggled, bringing his hand up to his mouth as he realised exactly what he would need. _Who_ he would need. "Looks like I'm gonna have to pay a visit to my favourite set o' twins."

.

. .

"Stop!" a voice thundered, and almost all of the people on the street faltered, glancing over their shoulders at the large man bounding down the pavement, pushing people out of his way. "Stop those thieving brats!" The man commanded again, pointing at two figures running a few metres ahead of him.

The twins exchanged a glance as they ran from the man, grinning at his frustrated bellows. Skidding around a corner and into a deserted street, Dipper leapt up and pulled the fire escape ladder down. Mabel climbed up first, Dipper at her heels, and the man cried out in anger when he saw where they were going.

They reached the top of the building and threw themselves on to it. Dipper reached out and squeezed his sister's hand, and she grinned as they ran to the edge of the roof. "Ready?" She laughed, the pavement below coming into sight.

"No!" Dipper yelled back, laughing just as loud, and they jumped.

Dipper screamed as they soared through the air, his shirt whipping him in the face and his hat flying off. Mabel did the same, the hand that wasn't holding tightly to her brother pressing against her thigh, fighting to keep her skirt down. A few people stopped to stare, but most people blotted them out – the Pines twins made enough of a nuisance of themselves that most had grown numb to it in the 17 years they'd been alive.

The cloth top of a market stall broke their fall, and they bounced off of it, rolling to the side and crashing to the ground in a fit of giggles as the man who had chased them scowled down. "I'll get you one day, you lousy brats!" He yelled, shaking his fist a little, and Mabel poked her tongue out at him as her brother erupted in laughter.

They breathed heavily for a moment, sprawled in the dirt, the corner of Dipper's notebook jabbing into his hip with every shaky inhale. Mabel's arms were wrapped around her bag, and she stroked it possessively.

"Did you get it?" Dipper asked.

The girl grinned, dipping her hand into the bag and pulling out a stone amulet, "You know it."

Dipper let his head fall back as he let out a sigh of relief. It had taken over a month of planning to pull of this heist, and while he didn't like to take things from people, he did like to feed him family. And with this, he'd be able to do so for months.

Dipper and Mabel had been left to fend for themselves after their legal guardians had left them to go on a hunt for buried treasure. They had promised to be back before the rise of the new moon. The end of the lunar cycle came and went, as did the next, and the next. At the end of every month for the three years that followed, both kids stayed seated on the roof of their house all night, waiting for the two men to stride round the corner, laughing and punching each other like they'd never been gone.

They never did.

Mabel let out an audible gasp, and Dipper frowned up at her. When had she stood up? "Mabel?" She didn't look at him. Her eyes were glued to a spot just past his line of sight. Before he could arch his neck to take a look, Mabel had hurtled off towards where she'd been looking, dropping her bag on Dipper's face as she took off. Jumping to his feet, Dipper slung the bag over a shoulder and stepped out on to the street just in time to see Mabel throw herself in front of a cowering child, a horse reared up in front of her.

"Out of my way, you vile creatures!" The man on the horse snarled.

"Mabel!" Dipper cried out, and tackled his sister, knocking her and the child out of the way before a whip could crack down on her arm.

They rolled to the side of the road, and the child that would have been trampled – had Mabel not intervened – scurried off, muttering to itself. Mabel gasped for breath, and Dipper scoured her body for injuries. Content when he found none, he turned after the man, who was riding away from them with a smug lilt to his shoulders. "Hey!" Dipper yelled, standing and glaring at his back. "Why don't you use all that money in your pocket to buy yourself some manners?"

The man reared around and levelled Dipper with a sneer, his black hair falling over his eye. "I'll teach you some manners!" He pulled a sword out of its sheath just far enough to blind Dipper when the light reflected off it. When Dipper brought a hand up to cover his eyes the man barked a laugh, sliding the sword back down, and he turned away once again.

But Dipper was having none of it. Extending a hand to his sister, he pulled her up, keeping their hands joined. "Look at that, Mabel! It's not every day you see a horse with two assholes!"

Dipper smirked when he saw the man blanch, but it fell off his face when the man turned his horse around, the creature whining in pain, cold fury in its rider's eyes. " _You"_ he spat _,_ "are a rat worth less than my horse's shit!" He seemed to be glaring at everyone on the street at once. "You were born a rat and you will die a rat, and only your fleas will bewail you!"

Dipper gritted his teeth and took a step forward, but Mabel's hand in his pulled him back. "He's not worth it," she mumbled, eyes cast to the ground, and Dipper gaped at her with disbelief. She squeezed his hand, biting her lip, and he sighed, stepping down. He understood. A man like that's pride was worth more than their lives put together, and if he saw fit to put them in prison they'd never see the light of day again.

"Okay," Dipper sighed, and moved to step behind his sister.

The man barked a laugh and turned away from them, slicing the whip through the air to hit against the floor. The sound startled the horse into moving forwards, and the man glanced over his shoulder one last time, "That's what I thought."

It seemed forever before the man rounded the corner of the street, made longer by the fact that everyone froze to watch him go. As soon as he was out of sight, though, the hustle and bustle resumed again, and Mabel dragged Dipper to stand against a wall to avoid being hit by passers by. "Who did that guy think he was?" Dipper growled in frustration, hands clenched to fists, and Mabel rolled her eyes.

"He was just another of the princess' suitors." She got a hazy look in her eye when she mentioned her – she'd always been curious about the palace. Awed by its grandeur. She'd give _anything_ to see inside.

"Another one? Whoa – that girl must be hard work if this many men have tried and failed." Mabel slapped his shoulder at that, and he laughed. "What? Aren't these rich types raised to believe that guys are _supposed_ to act like that? If they are and she doesn't like them, then she _must_ be a handful."

Mabel frowned, "Just because she doesn't like any of those guys doesn't make her hard work. It makes her smart. And _strong_."

Dipper grinned at the admiration in his sister's voice. "Yeah yeah, I know. Now lets go and sell this thing before the shop guy comes back for us!"

Mabel grinned back, grabbing the bag off Dipper's shoulder and sliding it on to her own. She swept her hand through the air to gesture Dipper forward with a flourish and a bow, "After you."

.

. .

The door slammed shut behind Prince Robbie, and Preston Northwest roared in frustration. "Pacifica! Come here at once!" The blonde girl hurried quickly into the room, swooping into a low curtsey at her father's feet. He grunted and she took that as a sign to straighten up. She ran through the checklist in her mind as he gave her a once over. Hair – up, dress – smooth, back – straight.

She was okay.

"Why, exactly, did I just watch Prince Robbie scramble out of here like a frightened lamb?" His face was going red with rage, and he fought himself to keep his hands balled at his sides.

His daughter flinched at the volume of his voice, taking a step away from him. It took her a second to regain her composure, and when she did, she said, "His gift was inadequate. So I told him I cannot be bought with wealth alone."

Her father grew redder in the face, so much so he was almost purple, and she wondered if there was any blood left in the rest of his body. "What did he give you?" He asked, his voice a terse whisper.

"A bag of jewels," she snorted, rolling her eyes and folding her arms across her chest.

"A bag of jewels?!" Preston roared. "What's wrong with that?! That's a perfectly satisfactory gift! What more could you want?"

Pacifica rolled her eyes, but when she saw the look her father gave her, she ducked her head. "Is it so much to ask to receive a gift from the heart? Something that took time and effort and consideration? Something that tells me that they want me for the person I-"

"You seem to be forgetting," Preston growled, "that you are not a person! You are a princess and you are a tool to connect our kingdom with another. You will choose one of the Princes we have set out for you to marry or I will choose one for you! Is that clear?"

Pacifica was practically cowering in front of her father, to hell with her straight posture, and her voice was a whisper when she said, "Yes sir. I understand."

Preston smiled, "Good. Now go fix your hair. You don't want to be looking like _that_ when the next Prince visits for supper, now do you?"

Pacifica shook her head. "No, sir."

Pacifica backed away from her father, turning on her heel at the door and making her way to her room. Preston sighed when she disappeared, rubbing his eyes with his hand.

"You certainly do have a way with children," a light voice sang from across the room, and Preston spun around.

"Gideon? I didn't expect you to be here today."

"Oh, I just thought I'd drop by, pay a visit to my favourite royal family! It's a good thing, too. Looks like she's being quite the disobedient child today."

"Yes, well. She says that she wants a marriage with someone who loves her. Child is too naïve to even realise that there is no such thing as love in this world."

Gideon giggled, "Well I wouldn't be too sure about that." Preston raised an eyebrow, and Gideon continued. "I was thinking that perhaps I could have a try at courting the princess? You know I'd treat her right."

Preston stared at the boy for a few moments before laughing loudly, his voice like rolling thunder. "You?" Gideon's face flushed red with anger and embarrassment, and Preston judged it as the second. "I'm sorry, Gideon. But you're not nobility. You'd have to conquer a kingdom before I'd allow you to marry my daughter."

Preston clapped his hand on the boy's shoulder as he walked past him, still chuckling to himself, and Gideon resisted the urge to growl as he watched the man exit the room. When he was sure he was gone, Gideon's eyes turned sinister and he grinned. "I just might do that, Preston Northwest. I just might."

.

. .

Pacifica dashed through the courtyard of Northwest Palace, avoiding the glass lanterns that cast hazy circles of luminescence throughout the yard. Her usual dress had been swapped out for a dark trousers and a loose shirt, and with no make up or jewellery or beautifully styled hair, she bore no resemblance to the Princess the person her family once knew.

A guard rounded the corner, and Pacifica ducked under the cover of the shadows, waiting for him to pass. She took a deep breath as she watched him scan the yard for intruders, hoping she had placed herself deep enough into the darkness to not be seen. She was absolutely _giddy_ with excitement and terror – she couldn't _believe_ she was going to do this. It would take all of her courage – in fact, it already had. But every time she thought about turning back she would glance down at her arms, at all of the hand-shaped bruises that perfectly matched her fathers. And she knew she was doing the right thing, for her and her people. This kingdom deserved a just and fair king, not her father, and certainly not any of the douchebag Prince's he'd arranged for her to meet.

Once the guard had disappeared back inside the palace, Pacifica sprinted across the last stretch of grass and threw herself at a large tree with thick, low hanging branches. She stood on her toes and gripped the highest branch she could reach, pulling herself up into the tree and grunting with the exertion. It didn't take her long to climb high enough to be able to see the kingdom over the wall lining the garden, and she cast one last glance at the palace behind her. She sighed at all of the memories that flooded her mind at the sight - the good from before her father had ascended to the throne and the bad from after – and flung herself over it, landing with a thud on the other side of her entire life.

She ran away. And she didn't look back. There was nothing left for her there, anyway.

.

. .

It was another bright, sunny day in the kingdom of Gravity Falls, and Dipper and Mabel grinned down at the marketplace below. "Where are we hitting first?" Mabel asked, smiling deviously at her brother, who was perched on the wall beside her.

"Where do you want to go first?" Dipper asked back, not taking his eyes off the police patrolling the streets. There seemed to be more of them than usual today, though he couldn't figure out why. The only time there were this many guards out was when there was a royal visit. And he would know if one of those was going on today – there'd be a lot of nobles to rob.

"I really fancy some..." Mabel drawled, scanning the stalls, "Watermelon." She decided.

Dipper grinned. "Alright then." He swung to the side and slid down the wooden ladder, ignoring the splinters that dug into his palms, and flashed his sister a thumbs up. "Set 'im free!"

She saluted him and reached to the side, pulling on a rope that lifted a small wooden crate just a few feet off the floor – but it was enough. A large pink pig scrambled out of the box, and started waddling down the street, oinking happily at the people who stopped long enough to stare. "Stop that pig!" Mabel yelled, throwing herself down from the roof and giving chase.

A few shop owners looked up at this, saw the pig, and of course started chasing after it as well. If they could catch it, they'd be fed for half a year. Mabel never worried that someone else might catch her beloved pig, though – she always got him back. Dipper smirked when the watermelon salesman followed his sister, leaving his stall unattended, and Dipper quickly grabbed one from the pile and dropped it in his bag. He grabbed a couple of apples for good measure, too, stuffing them into the small space left after the melon.

He turned and walked casually back into the alley he had been in only a minute before, just in time to see a plump pig round the corner, followed closely by his sister. Waddles trotted right back into his crate, flopping down into the straw, and Dipper grinned at his sister. "Nice going, sis."

She bowed, "Thank you."

They secured Waddles' crate and Dipper tossed him an apple before he climbed back up the ladder after his sister. They sat on the edge of the roof with their legs hanging over the edge, staring out at the streets of the town. Mabel sliced down on the melon with a thick knife and handed the biggest half to her brother, her face already dripping with pink juice as she licked her fingers clean. "Breakfast is served!" She announced, turning to place the knife back in her bag, and when she did Dipper switched his melon half for hers.

They sat there for a few moments, content to people-watch. There were so many merchants in the streets, selling food and clothing and jewellery – it was hard not to be fascinated with it all. Dipper smiled at a child helping her father carry a blanket across the street, then frowned as a short man cut the purse away from another man's belt. It seemed hypocritical for him to look down on thieves, but he and Mabel took barely enough to survive. That man took because he enjoyed it.

"Hey, Dipper," Mabel said, pointing down at the street. "Who's that?"

Dipper rolled his eyes, "Mabel, you can't possibly know every person in Gravity Falls." He looked anyway, following his sister's finger to a girl weaving her way through the street.

Unlike many of the girls in the Falls, she wore trousers and an ill fitting shirt, held close to her body by a thick brown belt. Her blonde hair fell out behind her back, swishing in the wind, and her eyes were wide with wonder and apprehension. He could see why Mabel had picked up on her so easily – she stuck out like a sore thumb. Her clothes were expensive but messy, as if she'd spent money to sully them. Dipper rolled his eyes – she was probably a noble trying to avoid getting mugged by dressing like a pauper.

"Pretty lady!" A scrawny merchant called out to her, and she gasped in surprise. "Buy a pot in brass or silver!" He called after her as she walked by, smiling pleasantly at his wares.

"Sugar dates!" Another man called, handing a small round fruit to the girl. "Sugar dates and pistachios!" She smiled but shook her head, laying the morsel back down on a pile full of others.

She crossed over to the other side of the street, still glancing around with wide eyes at all the wonderful things the stores had to offer. "Pretty necklace for a pretty lady?" A man asked, holding a string of beads up to the girl's neck.

"Oh, I don't think so," the girl answered, backing away from the salesman. Dipper squinted at her, and realised with a jolt that what he'd mistaken for a smile was actually a sneer. The girl looked disgusted.

"She's not from around here," Dipper mused, and he heard Mabel hum in agreement as they both continued to watch her.

The blonde backed away from a man waving a fish in her face, straight into one of the guards. She yelped as he turned on her, backing away from him, and he peered at her with suspicion. "Do I know you?"

"Uh oh," Mabel's lips turned down with concerned curiosity, and she leaned forward to watch the scene play out. "This can't be good."

"Oh! Um, no!" The girl replied, a bit too fast, and the guard narrowed his eyes at her. "This is my first time in town," She explained. The guard wasn't buying it - Dipper could tell - and the girl tried to smile up at the man, who was inching closer, backing her against a wall. Dipper saw a spark in her eyes, which he instantly recognised as fear, and he bit his lip.

Mabel leaned forward some more, her hands over her mouth as she watched the way the guard eyed the girl. Mabel gave the girl a once over, her eyes gleaming and- oh no. Dipper knew that look all too well. It was the same look Mabel had given every guy they'd seen back when they were kids. He raised an eyebrow at the way her eyes seemed to sparkle with a thousand stars as they drank in the sight of the blonde girl.

Dipper looked away from his sister. He felt like he was intruding on a private matter. It was a good thing he did, too. Mabel was so enamoured with the girl that she hadn't noticed how close to her the guard had come. It was obvious that he was coming close to placing her face, and any second now he would figure it out. When that moment came, blondie was a goner. After all, if a guard knew her face, she was a criminal. Not a very good one, if she'd been caught, but a criminal none the less.

Dipper clambered to his feet and grabbed the back of Mabel's jumper, pulling her back an inch or three. She frowned up at him, that lovelost light gone from her eyes, "What?"

"Get any closer and you'll fall," Dipper warned, and Mabel blushed at the double meaning in his words. "Come on. As soon as he figures out who she is, she's done for. We'd better go get her before she loses her head. Literally."

Mabel nodded, accepting her brother's outstretched hand and standing up. The two hurried down the ladder and across the street. "Guard!" Dipper yelled, rushing over. He noticed the look of abject horror on the girl's face and he nodded at her, subtly. "Thank goodness you found her!" He exclaimed to the guard, then to the girl, "I've been looking all over for you!"

"What the-?" She mouthed, but had the good sense to keep quiet when Mabel held a finger up to her own lips.

The guard turned slowly, eyebrows furrowed, "You know this girl?"

"Yes," Dipper explained while Mabel made her way over to the girl, wrapping her hand around the blonde's upper arm. "She's our cousin," Dipper continued, wrapping am arm around the guard's shoulder and turning him away from the two girls. He waved his hand behind his back, signalling for Mabel to take the girl away from the main street. "It's her first day in the kingdom so she's not registered yet. We were taking her to The Watch when we lost her."

The guard frowned, "I could have sworn I've seen her before," he mused, turning back to look at the retreating girls.

"A lot of people say that. It's because she's blonde – they all look the same, don't they?" Dipper offered up, visibly relaxing when the guard started nodding.

"Yeah, I suppose they do." He clapped Dipper on the back a couple of times, "Well, alright, kid. Don't forget to sign that register, now!"

"I won't," Dipper smiled, glad that he'd gotten one of the stupider guards. "Have a good day now!" He called, and ran down the street after the girls.

When he caught up he grabbed both of them by the sleeves, tugging them into an alley. The girl broke his hold on her fairly easily, and Dipper raised an eyebrow at her. "Who are you?" He asked.

Her eyes blew wide with shock. "Who am I? You just kidnapped me and you're asking me who I am?" She backed away from the twins, burrowing as far into a corner as she could get. "What do you want from me? Gold? Jewels?"

Mabel took a step towards the girl, but froze when the blonde flinched. "I'm not going to hurt you," Mabel said softly, reaching a hand out but then pulling it back, thinking better of it. "My brother and I saw the way you were looking at that guard and figured you may need a rescue. I just want to know if something's wrong, and if we can help you."

The blonde looked from Dipper to Mabel and back again, something indescribable and altogether heart-wrenching in her eyes. "You wanted to help me?" She asked, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. Dipper frowned at this. Had she never been offered help before? Been shown kindness? Dipper thought about how lucky he was to have Mabel – a lot of kids grew up without that. Maybe this girl was one of them?

Mabel must have thought the same thing, because the next second she pulled the girl into a tight hug. The blonde looked taken aback for a moment before she returned the gesture, wrapping her arms tightly around Mabel's waist and burying her head in the crook of the her neck.

"Come on," Mabel said, pulling away from the girl and threading their fingers together. "Come home with us. We can talk there."

.

. .

Gideon stared into the pool of water, the green magic swirling around in the liquid, searching for the answers he needed. "Waters of then and now, tell me, how can I get Mabel and Dipper Pines to do my bidding?"

The green continued to swirl in the clear liquid, the separate arms of colour moving with varying degrees of ferocity and fervency. The tendrils of green shifted, flying out into smaller strands of blue and pink and purple, weaving together to form a perfectly clear image.

Dipper Pines sat on a green armchair, a notebook resting on his knee. He nodded as he hurriedly took notes, his tongue poking out of the side of his mouth. His stupid hat was pulled down over his forehead, hiding the equally silly birthmark from view. He wore a tshirt and shorts and an unbuttoned blue flannel shirt – at least he had finally gotten over that horrendous poof jacket. Gideon growled at the boy, before a flicker of movement at the boy's side caught his attention.

On the floor next to her brother's foot sat Mabel Pines. Her long brown hair was twisted into a braid that fell over one shoulder, obscuring the message on her trademark sweater. She chewed on her sleeve, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Her trousered legs were drawn in to her chest, and she rested her chin on one of them. Gideon sighed contentedly when he saw her smile sweetly at someone – he had long since gotten over his childhood crush, but he couldn't help the overwhelming want to own her, to be her everything, to break her then rebuild her as his own.

Gideon looked to the last person in the room, and his eyes nearly popped out of his skull. Sitting there, on the arm-chair of the Pines Residence, was none other than Princess Pacifica Northwest.

A slow grin tugged at his lips and he slashed his hand through the picture, cutting all three of them in half. He knew exactly what to do.

"Guards!" Gideon yelled, "Guards!"

Two footmen burst through the door, "Master Gideon? What's wrong?"

Gideon forced himself not to giggle with glee, forcing his expression to remain grim. "I've found out who kidnapped the Princess."


	2. Chapter 2

Pacifica had agreed to go home with the girl and boy, though she had no idea why. They were twins, she'd gathered that much herself, but that was about all she knew about them. The two didn't seem to know who she was – if they did, they were doing a pretty great job of hiding it. But she couldn't help but wonder what they wanted from her, if not her father's wealth.

The brunette girl dragged Pacifica down the street, her sweaty hand gripping Pacifica's tightly, and the blonde wasn't sure whether she should wriggle free or grip tighter. It felt… nice? The cheery girl smiled brightly at her as they walked, somehow managing not to steer them into anyone despite not watching where she was going. Her teeth were a little crooked, and there was a small gap between the two in the front, and they somehow managed to add to the girl's charm rather than take away from it.

Pacifica watched the way she moved, her long skirt swishing around her legs with every step she took. She was thin, her shoulders and hips narrow and her arms long. Tresses of thick brown curls reached the bottom of her spine, falling in choppy layers that stuck out in every direction imaginable, defying gravity. Every couple of minutes the girl would pat the hairs that fell over her neck, her shoulders sinking with the loss of tension when she found that her hair still covered her neck. _What could she be hiding_ , Pacifica wondered.

"Oh my gosh!" The girl gasped suddenly, her hand squeezing Pacifica's for a split second, snapping the blonde away from her thoughts. "I totally forgot to tell you our names!" She slapped herself in the head with that last word, snorting a little as she laughed at herself. "My name's Mabel!" She grinned, "And old grumpy guts behind us is my brother, Dipper!"

Pacifica cast a look over her shoulder at the boy. For some reason he was carrying a large crate containing a pig, and looked to be struggling with it. He was shorter than his sister, his shoulders broader. They didn't look alike, she marvelled. They had the same nose and eyes and mouths and jaws, but they held themselves differently. Pacifica wondered what they would look like if they swapped clothes – if she would be able to tell them apart if they made an effort to act like each other. Pacifica shifted her eyes to the crate, and bit her lip when she saw the almost cheerful way the pink animal looked at her – she hoped the twins weren't planning to eat him.

"So what's your name?" Mabel asked, reclaiming Pacifica's attention, and the blonde girl flinched.

If Mabel noticed, she didn't say anything, and the blonde took a deep breath before saying, "Pacifica."

Mabel's eyes widened as she gasped, and Pacifica bit her tongue. She shouldn't have told the truth. She eyed Mabel warily, terrified that the girl would put two and two together and figure out who she was. What would happen when they found out? Would they leave her? Sell her? Make her go back home? She felt panic welling up inside her, fear coiling in her gut as her heart beat faster and faster, making her shirt tremble. She glanced around her, looking for any escape routs. There were none. The twins had her cornered.

"You have the same name as the princess!" Mabel exclaimed, stars lighting up her eyes.

Pacifica released the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding, the tension slipping away from her body in an instant. "I do?"

Mabel nodded enthusiastically, "Yep! Gosh – I'd _love_ to meet the princess. I bet she's _so_ beautiful! And imagine all the pretty clothes she must wear! And the _food_ she'd get to eat! And the _palace_ ~ I'd give _anything_ to go inside, just for a moment."

Pacifica snorted, pretending the flush that crept to her cheeks when the girl inadvertently said she was beautiful wasn't there. They were moving forward again, and she couldn't ignore the way her fingers intertwined with Mabel's, the sweat building between their flush skin no longer bothering her. "It really doesn't sound all that great." She mused, "I mean, she probably has people telling how to act, how to speak, how to dress. She'd have to marry a prince, and if she didn't like him she'd never be allowed to fall in love. It sounds awful!"

Mabel's smiling eyes had turned curious, wistful as she stared at the blonde, and Pacifica's breath caught in her throat. In the sun, Mabel's dark eyes shifted to the lightest brown, caged in by an almost black barrier around her iris. Pacifica marvelled that everything was in there, like a toy box of emotion: curiosity, joy, wonder, hope. All swirling around in a colour so profound and sincere that Pacifica felt that if she stared for long enough she might just fall in.

Pacifica was so enamoured in the other girl that she barely noticed the hand slipping out of her grasp, the cold evening air stinging skin that had once been both too hot and not hot enough. "We're here!" Mabel sang, skipping up a set of wooden stairs and turning back to Pacifica, her arms stretched wide. "Home sweet home!"

"Finally!" Dipper groaned at Pacifica's side, making the girl jump as he dropped the crate. Flicking the latch so the pig could run free, he let out a yawn, "I'm knackered."

"This is where you live?" Pacifica asked, staring up at the decrepit building before her with wide blue eyes. A few of the tiles had slipped off the roof, leaving holes in their place that had been feebly covered over with sheets of metal and planks of wood. The wooden walls were mismatched where repair work had been done, nails sticking out of the wooden panels in all directions like the spindly twigs from a branch in the kingdom of a book Pacifica had once loved. There was a beaten up sofa on the porch, alongside a rocking chair and a chess table strewn with homemade pieces, a bag of yarn tucked safely away from the weather underneath.

"Yepperoni!" Mabel grinned, running down the steps to take Pacifica's hand once again and drag her through the unlocked door.

The inside of the house was a lot less beaten up, almost homely, and Mabel stuffed Pacifica into a threadbare armchair. The overstuffed cushion sank almost a foot deeper under her weight, and she had to shift around a little to make herself comfortable. Artwork adorned the papered walls, each piece signed by one M. Pines. Pacifica wondered if they were Mabel's – they were good. There were some odd stains on the green carpet that Pacifica didn't want to think about, so she turned her attention to the human embodiment of a ray of sunshine standing before her. "Can I get you anything?" Said ray asked, smiling sheepishly at the blonde. She almost looked embarrassed, though Pacifica couldn't place why.

Pacifica swallowed a lump in her throat, only now realising how dry it was. She opened her mouth to ask for some water when a low growl came from her stomach, a sharp pain splitting it in half. She frowned – so _that_ was what it felt like to be hungry.

Mabel grinned, "Dipper's going to go make dinner now," she said, sinking to the ground at Pacifica's feet. "In the meantime~" She sang, shoving her hand into her bag, her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth as she rummaged around, "Here!" She pulled an apple out of the bag and held it up for the blonde. When Pacifica didn't immediately take it, Mabel huffed and grabbed her wrist, pressing the apple into the palm of her hand, "It's not gonna bite, ya silly goose! Eat it!"

Mabel let go of the girl's wrist and grabbed her own apple, biting into it and spraying juice across her flushed cheeks. She wiped it away with a sleeve, staring up at Pacifica as she chewed. "Where are you from, anyway?"

Pacifica looked down at the apple in her hands, manicured nails tapping idly against the red skin. "It doesn't matter," she said, "I ran away, and I'm never going back."

Mabel's eyes widened as she took another bite of her apple, not waiting until she'd swallowed to ask, "You ran away from home?"

Pacifica breathed a harsh laugh, "Escaped, more like. It was horrible there."

"Why?"

"Oh, would you look at that!" A cheerful voice chuckled, "She didn't tell you!"

"Gideon?!" Both Mabel and Pacifica cried as they turned to look to the voice, Mabel leaping to her feet. The two girls looked back to each other, " _You_ know Gideon? How?"

"Now, now, ladies. No need for synchronised theatrics. I think it's safe to say that everyone in this town knows little ol' me," the boy said, strolling into the room like he owned the place. He took a seat on the sofa, "Mabel, darlin', be a dear and go get that brother of yours. We need to have a discussion."

Mabel bit her lip and backed away from Gideon. He was bigger than he had been when she was a kid. He was a couple of years older than she and Dipper, but he'd always been small – small enough to pass as a child when he'd been sixteen. He was bigger now, and his presence filled the room, pressing down on Mabel and threatening to crush her, to back her into a corner, out of existence even. He smiled at her, but something about the way his eyes squinted and his dimples dug into his cheeks and his freckles stood out against the ghostly pallor of his skin made his once adorable face cruel and menacing.

When she reached the door she turned her back on him and darted to the kitchen, where Dipper stood completely oblivious, prodding at something in a saucepan. When Mabel slid into the room, almost crashing into the table in her haste, he turned to raise an eyebrow at her over his shoulder. "Everything okay?"

Something about the way her usually rosy cheeks were bleached of colour unnerved him, and Dipper turned off the stove and faced her. "Mabel? What's wrong?"

A deep breath. "Gideon," she breathed.

Dipper's warm eyes hardened with hatred, and for a moment Mabel saw the reckless urge to protect she usually associated with their Grunkle Stan. "Where?" He ground out through gritted teeth, and Mabel shuddered at his tone, drowned in blind rage.

"In the living room, with Pacifica," Mabel said, her voice stronger now. She gasped, "Poop! Pacifica!"

In a flash, Mabel was storming back to the room, Dipper hot on her heels. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides, and the colour was rising back to her face, an angry red rather than a rosy pink. She shoved the door open with her shoulder and marched right up to where Gideon was leaning over Pacifica, who had shrunk back so far into the armchair Mabel could barely see her.

Mabel tapped Gideon on the shoulder, and he turned slowly, a lazy smile easing it's way onto his face. It made Mabel sick. The man was over a foot taller than the girl, but her glare threatened to shrink him down to the size he'd been five years ago. Gideon looked over Mabel's head, choosing to give Dipper a once over. "Dipper Pines, it _has_ been a while, hasn't it?"

Dipper's hands curled into fists in his pockets, "What do you want?"

Gideon brought a hand up to his chest, "Who? Me? Why, I seek only to enlighten you on your situation is all."

Dipper's eyebrows furrowed, and it was Mabel's turn to ask, "What situation?"

Gideon giggled, stepping away from the girl to reveal Pacifica's form behind him. She didn't look too pleased with his being here, either, though Mabel had no idea why. She couldn't possibly have met him already – she was new to town. "Why, your situation with little Pacifica Northwest, of course."

Mabel's eyes shifted from Gideon to Pacifica, her blood running cold. "Northwest? As in _Northwest,_ Northwest?"

Pacifica gulped, forcing herself to nod stiffly.

"Dipper, may I have a private word with you?" Gideon asked, his voice slicing through the tension in the room like a knife to butter.

"Anything you have to say, you can say to all of us." Dipper remarked, crossing his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow defiantly.

Gideon chucked at that, "Oh I do love it when you try to act like you're not scared of me, Pines."

Dipper snorted at that, "It's not an act, _trust me_."

For a brief moment shock registered itself on Gideon's face, but it was gone as fast as it came. "Well anyway! As long as we're all being honest, I suppose I have a little confession to make." Gideon's face contorted into a perfect façade of guilt, making use of the skills he'd acquired as a young con man so many years ago. "You see, there are thirty guards outside of this property, just waiting for me to call them in. I'm sure you know that kidnapping the princess is _not_ a very smart thing to do, the reason being that if you do it you're gonna lose your head. Literally."

Dipper ground his teeth, but made no move to say or do anything.

"So, here's what I would like to propose. I can tell the guards that I was mistaken. That the princess is not here and they can go home and the search for your new little friend can continue as far from here as possible."

"If?" Dipper asked.

"If…" Gideon paused, "You and your sister retrieve something for me. Something worth more than all of your lives combined."

Dipper laughed, but there was no humour in it. "And where do you expect us to find something like that?"

"Oh, I already know where it is, Dipper Pines. I just need someone to go and get it. Nice and easy. I get my lamp, you and your sister get your princess, she gets to live out the remainder of her days as she pleases – though I have _no idea_ why she would want to live like… _you people_. Everybody's happy."

There was silence in the room.

Gideon chewed on the inside of his cheek, looking smug as he eyed the other three – he could see everything that was thrumming through their little heads. He was going to win this round, and the next. And then he was going to win the game.

Pacifica was still sat on the armchair, her eyes cast down at her feet – she had seen the way Mabel had looked at her, every trace of that wonder and joy gone. She felt like she had betrayed her oldest friend, and the way it made her heart claw its way up her throat made her eyes sting as she fought back an onslaught of tears.

Mabel had turned to look at her brother, eyes pleading. If Pacifica really was the princess, they had to help her. Everything she'd said about what she imagined life at the palace being must have been true, and that was no way for anyone to have to live. They couldn't offer her much, Mabel knew that, but she would give everything she had to make up for all those years of suffering the princess must have endured.

And Dipper stared straight at Gideon. He knew there was no choice, not really. If he refused to do what Gideon asked, they'd be thrown in prison for high treason. And even if they managed to escape, they'd be hunted for the rest of their lives. They'd never sleep in peace again. Not to mention that life with Mabel would become impossible; she would never forgive him for imprisoning her- _the_ princess.

"Okay," Dipper sighed, "We'll do it". He couldn't believe he and his sister had managed to get themselves tangled up with Gideon _again_.

Gideon grinned, "Excellent."

.

. .

The wind streaked through the forest, weaponizing Mabel's hair into a whip as it was thrown from side to side, stinging her face and Dipper's arms as it slapped them. Gideon stood just ahead of them, ploughing through the greenery and letting leaves and branches rocket back and lash the twins. The cold night air wrapped around them, chilling them to the bone, each agonising step away from the warmth of home tearing their spirits apart. Even Mabel had stopped spouting her cheerful nonsense, knowing that nothing she could say would make this journey any less unbearable.

Gideon tore a branch off of a tree trunk and tossed it behind him, and Dipper hoped out of the way just in time to avoid being hit in the face with it. He shot a glare at Gideon, but it slipped off his face when he saw what was over Gideon's shoulder. "We made it!" Gideon yelled, fighting to be heard over the howling wind. He stepped out from the forest into the clearing, Dipper and Mabel following closely behind him.

As soon as they were out of the tree line and under the stars staring down on the clearing, the wind ceased. In fact, everything ceased. There was no sound, no wind, no light – nothing from the outside. It was like this clearing was the only thing in this world. Like the second they'd stepped inside, the end of everything else had been brought upon the earth. Dipper patted his fringe back down to cover his birthmark, and Mabel wound her hair into a rope, securing it with an elastic band.

"Whoa," Mabel breathed, stars in her eyes, and Dipper followed her line of sight to a waterfall pouring blue flames into a pit of fire, dancing across the surface of a serene lagoon. A cavernous mouth had formed on the surface of the water, blue flames flowing like water swirling around the mouth and cascading down an invisible staircase. Just above the centre of the mouth floated a golden triangle, every inch of it succumbed to the flames but for an oval at the centre. Dipper felt a sense of déjà vu as the flameless eye stared down at him, but he shook it off.

Turning to face Gideon, Dipper asked, "What do we do?"

Gideon glanced at the pool, apprehension drawn on his brow when he looked back at Dipper. "Just walk in. Find the lamp, then get out." When Dipper made no move, Gideon narrowed his eyes and asked, quite condescendingly, "Do you think you can manage that, Pines?"

Dipper huffed, "Yes. C'mon Mabel." Dipper grabbed his sister's hand, and the two of them headed to the pool. Mabel was still looking around the clearing, awed by its supernatural beauty. Dipper was focusing on the cave. In, lamp, out. In, lamp, out. He repeated it in his head, trying not to think of how this whole thing worked. He knew it was magic, it had to be, but he'd never been this close to it before. He wondered if Mabel _really_ had to come, too. He'd feel a lot better about this whole thing if she could stay behind.

Dipper's foot slid under the water, stopping against something hard nearly a meter above the rocks below. Mabel stepped in next, and when she did the flames wrapping themselves around the cave walls flared up. The fire didn't burn the twins, though it did singe their clothes, even under the water. Dipper frowned at that, but continued on the descent, dragging his twin behind him.

The stairs went on for metres and metres, winding and twisting and dipping deeper and deeper under the water. A few drips came from the wet arch above their heads, but the water never once came crashing down, to Dipper's constant relief. He had almost been sure that this was all another of Gideon's ridiculous plans to off them, once and for all. Though he doubted the man would resort to _magic_ to do so.

The twins finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, after hours upon seconds of walking through the cave. There was a long hallway stretching forward, and at the end of it, a large golden door. Dipper ran his hand along the inside of the triangular entrance, his fingers gliding languidly over the solid gold. "Mabel, look at all of this!" The boy gasped, stepping through the doorway to leave room for his sister to pass through after him.

Mabel's eyes glistened with wonder as she eyed the room. Mountainous piles of gold and jewels, necklaces and rings and chunks of gems and crystals, archways made of solid gold, pyramids and statues towering tens of feet over their heads. She smiled brightly, skimming her hands over the rocks, shining in the brightness of the blue flames and casting marvellous shapes of light over every surface.

"Just a handful of this stuff would make us richer than the Northwest's," she mused to herself, scooping up a palm full of gold coins and letting them trickle back down into the intricate wooden chest. At the mention of the Northwest's, her expression turned sour and her mind turned to Pacifica. "Come on, bro-bro. We've got to go find that lamp."

She walked slowly through the cave, still marvelling at the piles of solid gold swords and jugs and statues and chests as big as she. The ground beneath her feet was gold and the ceiling above her head was gold and it was so beautiful she wished she had some way of preserving the image forever. She could always paint it when she got home, but she wouldn't be able to do it justice. She feared that nothing could capture the beauty all around her.

A deep rumble resonated through the cave, and Dipper frowned. "Do you think we should get moving, Mabes? This place does _not_ seem stable."

Mabel nodded, noting how some of the smaller golden objects were slipping down the piles, the small sound of jingling change echoing around them.

They walked faster through the mounds of gold, through another triangular, sapphire encrusted door, and into a stone room. Large grey pillars held up stone slabs, rock pyramids floating a few inches above them. No mounds of gold were scattered along the floor, just deep carvings of triangles cut through the stone, a bright blue light spilling out of them and illuminating the room.

Lines of gold embedded in the stony floor formed a glistening path from the doorway. It led to a fifty-foot frustum on the other side of the room, a blue beam cast down upon it's flat top. Under the blue beam there was a podium. Light, reflected off the object placed upon it, pierced his eyes when Dipper tried to look at it, but even without seeing it he knew that it was the lamp.

"Do you think I should-?"

"No, I'll go," Dipper interrupted her, moving forward. He had only moved a few steps before Mabel ran after him, determination in her eyes. He stopped, turning to face his sister. "Mabel. _Please_ wait here."

"Nope!" She said cheerily, and Dipper wondered if this was all a joke to her; if she was blind to the real danger surrounding them right now.

"I don't know what will happen when I take it. This whole place could fall apart!"

Mabel smiled then. "If it does, we'll get out of it together. Just like we always do." She moved forward, a spring in her step, and Dipper rolled his eyes. She was right. They had been through so much together, there was no way a little cave and _Gideon Gleeful_ was going to stand in their way. "You coming bro?" She called, neither slowing nor turning to face Dipper. A small smile wound its way onto his face, and he ran after her.

By the time he caught up, she was standing at the bottom of a large staircase. The frustum looked even larger from this position, and Dipper gulped, his mind racing a mile a minute to produce all of the ways this could go wrong in rapid succession. "You sure you're not still afraid of heights? Because I would totally understand if you wanted to stay down here."

"Pshaw! And leave you have all the fun? Nopedy dope! Come on!" She bounded up the stairs two at a time, and Dipper cried out in surprise, running up after her.

She reached the top first, and his chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath. He counted one hundred and seventy four steps – fifty threes and twelve twos. He thought about those numbers instead of his highly excitable sister, and he only realised his mistake when he glanced up and saw her fingers reaching out for the handle of the lamp.

"Mabel, wait-!"

It was too late. Mabel's fingers wrapped around the lamp's handle, and she pulled it off the pedestal. Dipper's eyes flew wide as the rumbling in the cave grew louder, and he was in front of Mabel before he could even process that he was moving. He wrapped his arms around her, leaning forward so anything that fell from above would hit him, not her.

His grip tight around her shoulders, he steeled himself for impact and waited. And waited. And waited. And nothing happened. The walls didn't start moving in on them, water didn't rise from holes in the ground and the ceiling didn't cave in on them. There was just… nothing.

"You know, bro-bro," Mabel spoke up, her shoulders wiggling tensely under the weight of Dipper's arms. "I'm always up for hugs, but now really doesn't feel like the time-"

"Of course!" Dipper exclaimed, pulling himself away from his sister and snatching the lamp in the process, tucking it into his bag and flipping the leather flap shut. "Can we go now? Gideon isn't particularly patient – I don't want to see what happens if we keep him waiting."

Mabel frowned, eyeing her brother with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, okay. Let's go."

The two quickly made their way back through the cave, this time ignoring the vast wealth surrounding them in favour of staring straight ahead of them, eager to get to the exit and never go back. There was something heavy about the air now that they had the lamp, pushing down on them and filling their chests with the dull sensation of needing to vomit. Dipper figured that it was just because of exhaustion that he was finding it hard to breathe, and his bag on his shoulder seemed to way as much as he did.

When they reached the top of the staircase, Gideon was waiting for them. He sat on the grass, his blazer protecting his trousers from the wet ground, but when he saw Mabel and Dipper clambering out of the cave, he got up. Walking over to them, his presence making the air around them weigh even more, his face split into a grin, teeth seeming pointed and dangerous. "Did you get it?"

Dipper frowned, "We said we would, didn't we? Here," Dipper rummaged around in his bag until his fingers brushed against the cool gold of the lamp, and he pulled it out.

Gideon immediately snatched the lamp away from Dipper, his large body seeming to curve around the golden artefact, his red eyes shining bright with joy. It took him a moment to realise that the twins were still there, now staring at him a bit funnily, and he sneered at them. "You can go now," he stated blankly, tucking the lamp into his waistband.

Dipper stared at the bulge the lamp made in his trousers. He really didn't think that letting Gideon have the lamp was a good idea. But _Mabel_ \- it was the lamp or Pacifica, Gideon or Mabel, and there was really no choice over who he would pick. It was his sister, every time.

Dipper nodded and raised an arm, brushing Mabel's dishevelled hair over the exposed birthmark on the nape of her neck, covering it over for her. She smiled up at him, "Let's go home, bro-bro."

.

. .

The Pines twins disappeared behind the tree line, and Gideon made sure to wait a few more minutes after they left before casting a small spell, separating what was outside the clearing from what was within it for the second time that night. The flaming waterfall still cast a bright light over everything, though it was less noticeable now that the sun had started to rise. Gideon guessed he had only a few more hours before his absence from the palace would become suspicious.

He set to work.

He placed the lamp on the floor and sat down next to it, pulling a book out of his pocket and thumbing through it until he reached the correct page. He looked from the book to the artefact and back again, his smile growing as he noticed the intricate details of the lamp and how they perfectly matched the details of the drawing in his book. This was the one he'd been looking for.

Setting the book down, Gideon lifted the lamp, and placed his finger against the gold. It was beautiful, there was no denying it, with triangle after triangle engraved around the rim of the lid and down the flat outside of the handle, each shape smaller than the last as it neared the spot where the handle tapered to a point. Etched into the side of the lamp was another triangle, though this one was more complex than the others. At the centre of the triangle was an eye, a stretched pupil staring out into the world. Directly under the eye was a bowtie, and directly above floated a top hat, two arms spring from the parallel sides and two legs hanging from the base line. Gideon swiped his finger down to this inscription and traced his finger around the edges of the triangle.

The lamp grew hot in Gideon's hand, the gleaming gold transforming into a flaming blue. The metal vibrated against the man's skin with enough force to shake his entire torso. Gideon snatched his hands away from the burning metal, and it stayed in place, hovering and shaking in front of Gideon's face. He scrambled back a few metres, trying to escape the waves of heat pulsating from the lamp, but there was nowhere far enough away. Blue smoke began billowing from the spout, pouring out in a thick fog and engulfing the clearing, masking the ground from view.

Gideon cried out as a black cloud spilled out of the lamp, thicker and more obtuse than the smoke and dotted with flecks of light exactly like the stars above. This black, shapeless smog rose higher into the air, bending and tightening and twisting and convulsing to form a simple dark shape.

A triangle.

A dark, mocking laughter poured out from the shape, taking over the entire clearing as another shape took form on top of the black – an eye with a split pupil. The eye blinked a few times, the pupil glancing around at its surroundings as the eye twitched with the resonating laughter. When the eye locked on to Gideon, two arms and legs popped out from the triangle, and a top hat materialised above its head – point? A gold flash shot sparks an inch from the black form as a bowtie and brick pattern were etched into it, glowing blue for a second before dulling down to a bright white.

The form blinked at Gideon, still sat on the floor with a shocked expression pasted over his paler-than-normal face. With a pop, the triangle's colours inverted, the black turning yellow and the white to black, and it floated down to hover a few feet away from Gideon, circling him slowly. _Predatorialy._

"A-are you the genie of the lamp?" Gideon finally managed to stutter out, drawing his knees to his chest as the feeling of being watched burned at the back of his neck, so intense and prevailing that it threatened to crush him.

"That'd be me, kid. Name's Bill Cipher." The triangle crossed its ankles, leaning back on thin air and eyeing Gideon with an air of condensation. "And who are you?"

Gideon rose to his feet slowly, puffing out his chest and balling his hands into fists at his sides in mock bravery. "I am Gideon Gleeful." He spoke proudly, every trace of nerves and fear gone as he levelled the genie with a cold stare. "And I am your new master."


	3. Chapter 3

"My name is Gideon Gleeful!" The boy yelled, staring up at the triangular entity in front of him. "And I am your new master!"

Bill rolled his eye, "Okay. What do you want?"

If he could shake his head, he would – why did he always get picked up by children who didn't know the full extent of the power they were dealing with? It was always the same – I am your new master, you are under my command, bow down to me, demon! Really, why couldn't it just be in, wish, out. It would make his job so much easier.

"Uh…" the boy drawled stupidly, mouth hanging agape as he searched his mind for something else to say. "You're not going to resist?" He asked, eyeing Bill dubiously. "You're just gonna… give me what I want?"

"Yes." Bill answered, in a tone he usually reserved for snarking those more powerful than he, not that there were many of those left. When Gideon continued to stare it him with disbelief, Bill sighed, "You rubbed my lamp, didn't you?"

Gideon blinked a few times before he realised that he actually was being asked a question, and he spluttered, "Um. Yes, I did! I rubbed your lamp!"

Bill eyed the boy with distaste – his last master hadn't been this much of a wimp, and she was six! Than again, maybe this boy was just smart enough to realise that he was a real threat, which was good. He liked it when they were afraid of him; it was more fun that way. He noticed the way the boy's heart beat frantically in his chest, and he frowned. Maybe he was being a bit too hard on the kid – he had been told he was a bit of a grouch when he'd just woken up.

Maybe this 'Gideon' wouldn't be so bad.

"Okay then! I'm at your command! Get on with it!" Bill exclaimed, a drop of his impatience making it into his word, despite his attempts to force a bit more cheer into his voice than he would have liked – the kid had better be grateful after all of this extra effort. "What do you want? You get three wishes, but I don't resurrect the dead, kill people, make people fall in love with _other_ people _OR_ grant you more wishes. Got it, kid?"

Gideon nodded, "Yes! Uh…" He seemed to contemplate his choices, and Bill forced his eye not to roll of its own volition. Why did people never know what they were going to wish for? It wasn't even like they only got one wish – they got three! Bill knew exactly what he would wish for, if genies could grant wishes for others of their kind, that was. "I want you to…" Gideon bit his lip, "To…"

Nope, Bill decided, this kid _was_ just _really annoying_.

Patience wearing thin, Bill finished the boy's sentence for him. "Turn you into a cat?" He clicked his fingers, and a ball of blue fire bounced along the grass and landed on Gideon's leg. The boy screamed as the fire crept up his body, the flames catching on to his clothes and spreading quickly across his chest and arms, shrinking him down. He screamed even louder when he realised that it was him sinking lower and not Bill rising higher, and he patted frantically at the flames, as if that was going to do anything.

After another three seconds of undulated screaming, Gideon was less than a foot tall, his white hair sprouted all over his body and his blue suit fitting his tiny kitten body perfectly. Gideon meowed frantically at Bill, and the genie could see the panic rolling off his small furry body in waves. He rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll turn you back! But don't waste any more of my time, shortstack!"

Bill snapped his fingers again and the small white cat's limbs began to elongate, its fur shedding and falling away in thick white clumps as the boy's figure grew more like it had been before. He looked terrified now, his hands visibly shaking, and Bill smirked inside his head - the kid _finally_ understood what he was capable of, and as an added bonus, he seemed to understand how Bill could get when he was _done_ with _waiting_.

Bill had already been out of the lamp for ten minutes, and he hadn't seen a single thing of the world yet. Seven hundred years he'd been trapped in that lamp – he had _seven centuries_ of human history to catch up on! He wanted to see if his last master had made good on his promise to invent a sweet snack made out of corn, and he couldn't do hat until this brat had made his damn wishes. Gideon glared up at Bill, angrily swiping cat hair off of his suit, and Bill rolled his eye again. "First wish – go!"

Gideon chewed on his lip. He had planned to do away with Dipper and Mabel once and for all with his first wish, but if the genie was against killing then that wasn't going to happen. With that in mind, Gideon peered up at the genie through short white lashes, and settled for the next best thing. "I wish you would make the lives of Mabel and Dipper Pines miserable until the end of time!" He commanded.

Bill stared down at the kid, metaphorical eyebrow raised expectantly, since he didn't actually have any eyebrows. He tried his best not to laugh when the boy yelled out his wish, unbeknownst to him giving the genie a free pass at the rest of the world. As soon as he was done with Gideon's other two wishes, now that he'd been released from that infernal lamp, he could do anything he could think of – that was, if no one succeeded to stuff him back into his golden prison… again. Bill grinned in his mind as the boy stared into Bill's eye, apprehension playing at the back of his red eyes.

"Done!" Bill yelled, clapping his hands together. Fire sparked out from the clashing palms, the flamed crawling up Bill's thin black arms and catching on to the rest of his body, muting his yellow with sparkling blue.

"And make yourself look human, before you give someone a heart attack!" Gideon yelled after him, and Bill had just enough time before the fire had completely taken over his body to reach out a large black hand and flick the kid in the stomach, knocking him flat on his ass.

.

. .

"Dipper, we have to save Pacifica," Mabel cried, legs drawn close to her chest and puffy red-rimmed eyes threatening to spill tears down her even redder cheeks. "She's all alone in there! And if they know she ran away, who knows what they'll do to her! She must be _so scared_."

Dipper ran a hand through Mabel's hair in what he hoped was a comforting gesture, biting the nails of the other as he thought over the night's events.

When they had finally made it home, the sky was light, the birds in the trees singing brightly as the sun rose over the mountaintops adding to the serenity that seamlessly contrasted every second of the twins' evening up to this point. They had almost fallen through the front door, so enamoured with being home and _this close_ to their beds that their exhausted minds hadn't noticed how easily they'd gotten in.

The front door was open.

Mabel had groggily walked through to the living room, apologising to Pacifica for being late before she even realised the blonde was gone. She frowned when Pacifica wasn't there, or in the kitchen, or the bathroom, _or_ the small area that had acted as a shop back when their Grunkles still ran the place. Assuming that Pacifica had simply made her way upstairs, Mabel wandered up after her. She poked her head into every room, even climbed the ladder up to the basement, but there was no sign of the girl anywhere.

Panic finally setting in, Mabel ran downstairs, yelling the other girl's name as she made her way back to the kitchen. She had found Dipper there, fast asleep with his head in the open refrigerator, cheek resting against a cold glass shelf. Mabel frantically shook him awake, not bothering to think that this was the first time she'd seen her brother sleep in _days_. When he peeled his eyes open groggily, staring up at a blurry Mabel, he was unable to see the pure dread written across her features.

When he heard her feeble sniffles, though, he was wide awake. He slammed the fridge door and grabbed Mabel's shoulders, urging her to tell him what was wrong, and when she said that Pacifica was gone, his blood ran cold – Gideon had double crossed them. _Again!_

He had carted her into the living room and shoved her down on the sofa, hurriedly making her a cup of coffee and taking it in to her, hoping that the extra heap of sugar he'd dumped into it would lift her spirits enough for her to not have a total break down.

And that was where they were now.

Mabel was cradling the cup of coffee in her sweatered hands, staring hard at the wall across from her as she leaned against her brother, who was trying to think of a way - _any_ way - out of this mess.

Dipper chewed on his nails in the absence of a good pen. "We're going to get her back, Mabel." He assured, "But we have to be smart about it." Dipper said, taking his hand away from his mouth and wiping the residual spit on to his trouser legs. "We can't just knock on the front door and demand to have her back."

Mabel sniffed, "I know." She bit her lower lip, gazing up at her brother with wide, worried eyes, a small glimmer of hope gracing the deep brown. "So, what're we going to do? You have a plan, right?"

Dipper smirked, "Well that all depends - do you still have that grappling hook?"

Mabel's pouting lips stretched out in to a broad smile, and she grinned up at her brother, nodding frantically. Letting the empty coffee mug slip from her fingers and fall to the floor, she leapt off the sofa. She dashed out of the room, and Dipper heard her feet thundering up the stairs, faltering only once when Dipper assumed her sock slid against the wood. He shook his head as he let out a soft laugh.

Picking up the coffee mug and rising from the sofa, his back popped back into place with a number of clicks that was, frankly, alarming for a boy of his age. He moved through to the kitchen, dumping the mug in to the sink and grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl, tossing it lightly from one hand to another before sinking his teeth into it.

He wondered what would happen with Pacifica. He knew Mabel liked her, that much was obvious, though the way Mabel looked at the blonde was _different_ , somehow, to the way she'd looked upon the others. But Pacifica? Mabel had told him time and time again that she had only ever had male suitors, though he doubted that the King would be inclined to allow his daughter to meet any females – they had an image to maintain, after all. Pacifica _could_ like Mabel – his sister had been nothing but kind to the girl, and their personalities _did_ seem to compliment each other – but what if she didn't? He didn't want Mabel to get hurt…

He shook his head, looking at the half eaten apple in his hand. If Mabel wanted anything with Pacifica, she would have to figure it out herself. He was not going to meddle in her personal life, just like Mabel had promised not to meddle in his, after some… lets call them _awkward_ blind dates. And no matter what, he was _not_ going to leave Pacifica at the mercy of both the King _and_ Gideon.

Sighing, Dipper walked to the foot of the stairs and leaned against the bannister, calling up, "Mabel? You found it yet?"

"Yeah!" She yelled back down, and Dipper heard her run across the overhead floorboards to stand at her bedroom door. "I'm just getting into some more suitable clothes. I doubt I could break into the palace wearing a skirt and sweater!" She laughed then, and Dipper heard his sister's feet trot from one side of the ceiling to the other, where he knew from years of living with the girl that her not-sweater clothes were kept. He rolled his eyes – if Mabel wanted to play dress-up, he was not going to get killed by standing in her way

Dipper looked down at his own attire – black jeans and a blue and green flannel shirt. His jeans were a little too small, even after Mabel had made them a few inches bigger to leave him room to grow, and they clung to his legs like a second skin. His brown hiking boots were worn and muddy, and this time just a tad too big, but again they served their purpose, and that was good enough for him. His shirt had belonged to his Grunkle Ford, and while that was too big for him too, it was comfortable, so it wasn't too much of a concern.

Noticing that he was still holding the apple core in his hand, Dipper sighed and decided to throw it on the compost heap. He walked through the front door.

And into the kitchen.

He frowned, glancing behind him at the open back door and then in front of him at the kitchen. He shook his head, "That fridge must've done something to my brain," he muttered, as he walked back through the house and out the front door.

And again, he was back in the kitchen.

Eyebrows furrowing, Dipper took a different approach and walked through the back door.

Only to end up at the foot of the stairs.

"What the-?" Then a little louder, "Mabel!"

A second later the girl was bounding down the stairs, Grunkle Ford's brown coat billowing out behind her. She had on a black t-shirt over black jeans that hugged her legs, the trousers tucked in to black knee-high boots. The long brown coat flared out around her knees, it's light fabric swirling around her thighs with every step. Wrapped diagonally around her hips she had a black leather belt, a thigh sheath barely holding on to the grappling hook she'd stuffed into it attached to the belt.

"What do you think?" She asked merrily, jumping off the last stair with a twirl, her long coat slapping against her thighs as she did so. Her smile was bright as she struck a pose, placing her hands on her waist and grinning darkly, "Is this an outfit to take over the world in or what?"

Dipper breathed a startled gasp through his nose, panic making his heart beat faster as he was asked about _fashion_. "Uh… the black will help you blend in with the shadows?"

Mabel rolled her eyes. "What's this problem, broski?"

Dipper's expression became dire. "We can't leave."

Mabel's eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean we can't leave?" She asked, her hands falling away from her waist as her fingers thrummed against the sides of her thighs – a nervous habit.

Dipper realised that she had thought he meant that they weren't going for Pacifica, and his eyes blew wide as he tried to dispel the look of fear in her eyes. "No no no! I mean, we're still going to get Pacifica," he stated, and Mabel's shoulders relaxed in relief. "I mean that we physically cannot leave this house."

Eyebrows furrowing again, she wrapped a hand around Dipper's forearm and tugged him to the side, stepping through the front door. She disappeared as soon as her foot touched the other side of the doorframe, and Dipper deflated – he had hoped it had only been him affected by whatever the hell this was - that, or he was imagining the whole thing. Mabel reappeared through the door, a curious frown on her face. She dragged in a breath, eyebrows gracing her hairline as she said, "I see what you mean."

Dipper narrowed his eyes, hoisting himself up to sit on the key table next to the door. "I just don't see how this is possible," he mused, staring down at his swinging feet. "Unless…"

Dipper thought back to the clearing, thinking of the way the cave functioned and how there was no scientific way for it to do so. He remembered thinking that it might have something to do with magic – that _Gideon_ had something to do with magic. But would he really go that far? Risk all that he had, for _that?_ Gideon was the king's ward; he spent his life in the palace. It would only take _one_ wandering servant to catch him practicing, and his life would be over. But then again, he was _the king's ward_ – no one would believe a mere servant over his own word. If anything, his position in the palace would make it _easier_ for him to practice magic.

"Dipper, hey!" Mabel yelled, clicking her fingers in front of Dipper's cloudy eyes. "Wake up!" She called, and Dipper blinked, swatting her waving hand away from his face. He raised an eyebrow at her and she levelled him with a focused stare, "Unless what, Dipper?"

"Gideon," Dipper stated, and the girl flinched, recoiling back a few steps. "Mabel, I could have sworn that he was using it earlier today." He took a deep breath, knowing what a heavy accusation was going to come next, "Magic. What if he-?"

"No." Mabel cut him off. She shook her head, taking solid steps backwards until she hit the table behind her, sinking down to perch on the edge. "Just… no, Dipper. Gideon is a buttface, and I would gladly push him into the bottomless pit without a _second thought_ if given the opportunity, but _Magic_? I just don't think he's the type to go _that far_."

A high-pitched laughter resonated around the room. It cackled menacingly as a cloud of black smoke bubbled out from thin air before them, twisting and turning into a dark shape just above the foot of the stairs. "Then you need to think again, kid!"

"What the-?" Dipper mouthed to his sister.

"Wha-?" Mabel yelled back.

The dark form laughed, the writhing carving and moulding its edges until the shape was almost humanoid, the blackness splitting into colour as bright yellows and whites and browns replaced the cloud. With a pop, the last of the cloud diminished, and out of it stepped a man. "Heh heh! Name's Bill Cipher!" He said with a cheerful grin, his voice deeper than it had been when it had poured from the cloud, "Gideon sent me here to torment you until the end of time!"

Dipper and Mabel stared.

The man had dark skin, made to look darker by the bright yellow hair spilling down the side of his golden-freckled face, the thick blonde waves sticking up in all directions like perfectly styled bedhead. The loose curls were swept to the side, falling over one eye, but not completely enough to hide that unlike the visible golden one, this eye was black, the glowing blue outline of a triangle replacing an iris and pupil at the centre. Thick black lashes framed them, looking a little like dark eyeliner, and Dipper gulped when he realised that those eyes were focused on him.

Bill grinned, stepping quickly towards Dipper and leaning over the boy. His whole body pressed closer to the boy's than Dipper was really comfortable with, as the man stared at something just over Dipper's shoulder. "Oh, look!" Bill exclaimed, his hot breath ghosting over Dipper's ear and sending shivers down his spine. "An adorable family photo!" Bill moved away from Dipper, and the boy released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. The man smiled down at a photo of Mabel, Dipper and their Grunkle Stan, the three of them sitting in a boat and grinning widely at the camera.

And then he lobbed it against a wall. "Oops!"

Dipper rubbed his hand against his forehead, eyeing the man in front of him with suspicion. "The cold must have done more to my head than I thought," he muttered.

Mabel shook her head, "No, I see him too."

The man grinned, "So anyway!" He sat down on a table opposite Dipper's, crossing his legs and laying laced together fingers on one knee. "Where were you going before I got here?" He looked from Dipper to Mabel and back again, an expectant smile gracing his lips. "I mean, _obviously_ I have to stop it, but that doesn't mean I can't be curious!"

Mabel gave him a once over, her eyes narrowing in on his as she slowly said, "We were going to rescue Pa-"

"Mabel!" Dipper cut her off quickly, hopping down from his table and darting across the room to stand beside her. "Don't tell him what we're planning! He might go tell Gideon," he whispered roughly into her ear.

Bill spluttered a laugh, "The runt with the pompadour? Not likely!"

Dipper looked at the man out of the corner of his eye. Obviously he had magic, and on top of that, he was in cahoots with Gideon. He could be the source of all the magic that Gideon apparently had access to, or he could be an addition to it. Either way, he and Mabel couldn't trust him. "We still can't trust him, Mabel." He voiced.

"Don't be so boring, Pine Tree!" Dipper curled his lip – pine tree? "I won't tell Gideon, okay? I _promise_."

" _We're going to rescue Pacifica Northwest from the evil clutches of her father_!" Mabel blurted, shooting the words out like a bullet from a gun, before Dipper could even think to stop her.

Bill raised an eyebrow, "The Princess?" He gave the two a once over, eyebrows furrowing when he noticed the similarities between them now that they were stood together – twins? That was never a good sign. "That's not gonna be easy, you know? Though, I could _make it_ easy," Bill pulled his hand away from his chin as blue flames crawled around his fingers and slid down to the palm of his hand like a warm caress, a lazy smirk pulling at his lips, "if you'd like."

Dipper's eyes widened when he saw the fire, grabbing Mabel by the forearm and pulling her behind him on reflex. His eyes narrowed on the man, daring him to try anything.

"Oh _wow_!" Bill grinned, vaulting himself off the table and moving to circle the two almost predatorily. "The overbearing brother and the free spirit sister routine! Haven't seen that in a few millennia. Somehow it's even more annoying than I remember it!"

Dipper raised an eyebrow at 'a few millennia', spinning around along with the man to keep a firm barricade between him and his sister. "What are you?"

Bill bounced backwards a bit, leaning back on his heels to give Dipper an unsure stare, "I didn't tell you?" Dipper shook his head. "Oh! I must have forgot- I'm a genie, kid!"

Dipper raised a dubious eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. "A genie." Bill didn't expect them to believe that, did he?

Apparently he did, and Mabel bought right into it. She grabbed Dipper's arm and swung herself around him, darting forwards so she was right in front of Bill, staring up at his impressive height with wonder in her eyes. "A genie?! The kind with wishes and stuff?"

Bill grinned, "The very same." He held up his hand, three fingers splayed out, a small blue flame hovering over each digit. "Three wishes! No resurrection, no making people fall in love and _no_ wishing for more wishes."

Dipper frowned at that, eyeing over the triangular buttons on the man's waistcoat and the golden outline of a triangle hanging from his ear, partially hidden by his messy hair. Bill definitely had a thing for threes, and it reminded Dipper of all the triangles back at the cave – did Bill have something to do with that place?

"Cool!" Mabel grinned, grabbing one of Bill's wrists and inspecting the golden band wrapped around it with wide eyes. He frowned and pulled his hand back from her a little warily, and she didn't notice the look that flashed across his face. But Dipper did. "Can you turn my grappling hook pink?" She asked, pulling the launcher out of its holster and holding it out to him.

Bill grinned and poked the grey metal of the device, bright blue flames spreading out from his fingertip, sliding over the gunmetal grey and leaving it a bubble gum pink. Dipper's eyes blew wide as Mabel starred down at her improved grappling hook, mumbling to herself about how much better it would look with a coat of glitter. Bill smiled at his handiwork, "Odd thing to wish for, but who am I to judge?"

Dipper raised a finger in protest, "Uh," Bill's eyes slid away from Mabel and latched on to Dipper, smile folding itself into a smirk. "She didn't wish for that." Dipper said.

The smirk dropped off Bill's face, his lips parting and eyes narrowing in on Dipper. The boy gulped, and the genie burst out laughing. "I like you kid! Wow, that has _not_ happened before!" He sobered up after a few seconds, eyes burning holes into Dipper as he raised a finger to point at him, "But no more freebies, okay?"

Dipper breathed a laugh, "Right." He looked over Bill's shoulder at his sister, still staring down at her pink grappling hook with buckets full of joy in her eyes – it sure didn't look like Bill was trying to torment them. It almost looked like he was trying to win them over – especially with Mabel's free wish. "So, uh…" Dipper started, staring down at his toes, "What did Gideon wish for you to do? Exactly?"

Bill beamed, "To make your lives miserable until the end of time."

Dipper raised an eyebrow, remembering something he saw scrawled across a plaque back in the cave. "But… time isn't real." He bit his lip, hoping that he was right and that Bill really did have something to do with that place.

Bill eyed him for a second, then grinned, surprised that the kid had managed to figure out the loophole fast. He _had_ to find out who told him that time wasn't real, though – he wasn't supposed to know that. "I've got to give it to you, Pine Tree – you're smarter than you look!"

A smile twitched at Dipper's lips, but it faded the second Bill's grin fell down into a sombre frown, "Which is exactly why you should know that you and the glitter fairly over there-" he inclined his head to Mabel "-cannot go for that Princess tonight." Dipper frowned at his sister, who was now pointing her hook at things and making gun sounds as she pretended to fire it at things. "You're going to fail," Bill warned.

Dipper cast a glance at Mabel, and she caught his eye, their Grunkle's signature mischievous gleam running through it. Recognising the look, she stood slowly, clipping her grappling hook back into its sheath and walking over to her brother. "So, when _should_ we go?" Dipper asked.

Bill smirked, the fire once again beginning to flourish at his fingertips and crawl up his arm, "Why don't you wish for me to tell you?"

Dipper glanced at Mabel, and she bit her lip, the look in her eyes saying exactly what Dipper was hoping to hear: _showtime._ Dipper frowned, drawling, "Hm… I don't know…"

Mabel picked up where he left off, "I mean, you can't be _that_ great a genie-"

Dipper turned on his heel, walking to the other side of his sister as he explained, "You can't even uphold a simple wish like making us miserable for the rest of our lives."

"Honestly, I _think_ we'd be better off going to rescue Pacifica _our way_." Mabel finished, circling back around her brother while she nodded a little condescendingly, bowing her head so that her hair hid the smile growing on her face.

Bill eyed the two, disbelief and a dash of rage sparking behind his golden eye. "I'm sorry," he began, the fire fizzling away from his fingers as he chuckled darkly to himself, his head bowing down as the younger of the twins' eyes stayed focused on him. His gaze flashed back up to Dipper, trapping him with his glare. "What." That syllable echoed around the room, and Dipper forced himself not to flinch away from it.

Dipper forced back any thoughts of regret in his head when he was the enraged look in the other man's eye. "Thanks," Dipper said, holding Bill's stare, his voice thankfully a lot stronger than he expected it to be, "But no thanks."

Bill laughed again, the deep sound making Dipper want to shrink back inside of himself. He held his ground. "You… _doubt_ , my power?" Bill asked, almost silently, his hair and clothes tingeing red and his smile stretching and twisting up into an inhuman grin.

Two things happened at once; Dipper shrugged nonchalantly, and he realised that that was _the wrong thing to do_.

Bill's fire exploded around him, cool blue flickering to an angry red as he scowled at Dipper, thankfully focusing all his rage on the boy rather than his sister. "Fine!" He growled, raising a hand and allowing dark red flames to rise up from it, leaving two small slips of card in his palm. He took a few steps towards Dipper and the boy backed up a step, trying to escape the heat of the flames before he realised that there was none. "Here," Bill growled, shoving the papers against Dipper's chest and knocking the boy back a step. Dipper frowned down at the papers, briefly registering the words 'ball' and 'princess' before two fingers were shoved under his chin, yanking his head upwards so that he was staring Bill in the eyes, the other's nose barely an inch from his own. "A party is being thrown to celebrate the return of the princess," he explained, his booming voice wrapping around Dipper's whole body, holding him in place. "If you sneak in with the other guests, _no one will suspect a thing_!"

Dipper blinked a few times, staring up at the genie with a dumb look before his open mouth morphed itself into a small smile – he hadn't expected that to work so well. "Whoa, thanks," Dipper said, tugging his chin out of the genies grasp and side stepping him, handing one of the invitations to a worried looking Mabel and leaving the genie frozen in his place. "I never doubted you for a second," he finished, smiling at Mabel and squeezing her shoulder, reassuring her that he was all right.

Every trace of red diminished from the genies body in a flash, and he turned slowly, staring slack-jawed at a smug looking Dipper. "You never…?" He started dumbly, trailing off with a shake of his head. When he looked back up, he had an eyebrow raised, the beginnings of a crooked smile tugging at one corner of his lips. "You played me."

Dipper and Mabel grinned, tapping their knuckles together as Dipper said, "Like a drum."

"Huh. "A smirk slid across Bill's face, "I don't know whether to be irritated or impressed."

Dipper shrugged, not taking his eyes off the white and gold card in his hands as he studied to intricate lettering. "Be both."

Bill narrowed his eyes at the boy – he was… _interesting._ "I think I will," he replied, ignoring the way his shackles burned against his wrists.

.

. .

Pacifica sighed, leaning against the stone railing lining the balcony connected to her bedroom. Beneath her, servants were hurriedly rushing around the courtyard, positioning vases full of flowers and plates full of food everywhere they could think to place them. One particular maid caught her eye, stringing a bundle of fairy lights up in a tree and scurrying to skip across the path to drape them over another tree, connecting them like constellations.

Her chin lay gently in her gloved hand as she watched what went on below her, but her mind couldn't seem to focus on anything for too long before it strayed back to _them_. She had been so surprised when Mabel had been kind to her and Dipper had protected her. It had been the first time in her life that she had felt human, like a real person capable of real emotion. She had felt wanted, protected, cared for - loved.

But that was all over now. That small taste she'd had of what life would be like were she not shackled to her status, the flickering simulation that she'd give anything to relive, was gone. And all because of Gideon.

After Mabel and Dipper had gone away with him, leaving her on the armchair with nothing but a blanket and a book and a big fat pig named Waddles to keep her company, she had felt safe. So safe and warm under that frail blanket, thinner even than half of her summer outfits but still managing to be _warmer_ , that when it was ripped away from her shaking fingers she'd almost cried.

The guards that stormed into the house were quick to grab her and drag her away, their strong strides immune to her panicked insistence that she was under no real threat there. That she had _wanted_ to be there, even. Not one of those guards listened to her as she begged to be set free, to be sent back, as she promised to pay them handsomely if they could just forget that they'd ever seen her there.

Half way through the long walk back to the palace, her legs gave out and her tears broke loose, running down her face and she desperately scrubbed them away. The guards wasted no time in scooping her up, carrying her the rest of the way to her _prison_. When they'd made it back to the palace, the guards spouted some nonsense about a kidnapping, and Pacifica's father had cupped her cheek in the most affectionate gesture he'd ever shown the girl, but his warmth was still _nothing_ compared to the warmth and gentleness of the girl she'd been with not even two hours ago.

As she was carried to her room, her back still shuddering with sobs even though the tears had stopped falling what felt like years ago, the only thing on her mind was the warm looks Mabel gave her as they spoke. She replayed every second she spent with the girl in her mind, over and over again until it was ingrained in her very soul, and she fought back another bout of tears when she realised that she would never have something like that again.

She would be eighteen in two months, and when that fateful day came, she would be sold to the highest bidder.

She bit her lip, clamping her eyes shut as another wave of tears threatened to spill down her face. _Gideon_. It was his fault that all of this had happened to her. If he hadn't told the guards where to look, she would still be at the twins' run down shack right now, the warmest she'd ever been. How did he even know where she was? She shook her head, no. That was not what her mind should be dwelling on right now. She should be thinking of how she was going to escape again. Now that the number of guards surrounding the palace had doubled, it would be harder, but she could-

She could always-

"Well, well, well," a voice greeted snidely, accompanied by the tip-tap of expensive shoes against a marble floor. "If it isn't our resident runaway princess!"

Pacifica's gloved hands curled into fists as she suppressed a shudder at the voice, her dress swirling around her legs and she spun on him. "Gideon!"

Gideon looked away from the water globe in his hand, the evil glint in his eye contradicting his sweet, dimpled smile. He placed the globe back on its shelf and crossed the room, taking Pacifica's hands in his own and appraising her. "My, my! Don't you look just _precious_."

Pacifica snatched her hands away from him, her skin crawling at his close proximity. "What's to stop me from going to my father and telling him _exactly_ what you've been doing?" She growled.

Gideon's smile faltered as his eyes slid away from the girl's, moving to stare at the few stars dotting the early evening sky. "Why, I don't know!" He said, bringing a hand up to his cheek as he faked his innocent cluelessness, the act that she used to buy into so easily. His voice turned venomous as he said, "Maybe the thought of your dear little Mabel Pines?"

Pacifica's eyes grew wide, her jaw tightening with rage as the girl's name slipped out of Gideon's slimy lips, and he looked back at the princess just in time to catch it. He giggled, pointing at her with a stubby finger. "I saw that!"

Pacifica's eyebrows furrowed, "What're you-?"

"I also saw the way you were lookin' at her back at the shack!" Pacifica raised an eyebrow, and Gideon was baring his teeth through that fake smile again, "Oh don't try to hide it, honey! You like her - nothin' wrong with that!"

Pacifica's heart thrummed in her chest and she blanched, her lips falling apart to say something in her defence only to be met with a silent tongue.

"So," Gideon continued, stepping closer to Pacifica than he already was, "if you tell your daddy about me, I'm gonna have to tell him about you, and then not only would you never see dear, sweet Mabel Pines again, you'll never see the light of day again, either!" He leaned away from Pacifica, minty breath sliding over her skin as he breathed a sigh, "So, we understand each other?"

Pacifica gulped, her head nodding of its own volition.

"Well, isn't that just dandy!" Gideon turned on his heel, his cologne stinging Pacifica's nose when she inhaled sharply. She waited until he was at the door and calling "Enjoy the party," over his shoulder, before she let the first tear spill down her cheek – and it wasn't from the cologne.

She shook her head again – _no!_ She was _Pacifica Northwest_. There was nothing that Gideon could do to keep her caged up in these walls. _Nothing._ She swiped a finger under her eye, collecting the moisture before it had time to create a track, and she crossed the room. If Gideon Gleeful thought he could break her, could beat her at this game, he had another thing coming – because Northwests. Never. Lose.

Pacifica floated down the stairs, her hand on the bannister trailing behind her as she made her way to the ballroom at the centre of the palace. There were already a few guests there, and more were waiting at the top of the grand entrance, yet to be announced. As soon as she stepped into the room, she was swarmed with people just itching to meet her, and she greeted them all politely, her princess perfect fake smile never leaving her lips.

After she was done with the older men, she moved on to the younger ones, flashing a small smile at her father, who had been watching the whole thing, as she pretended to enjoy their company. She danced with a few of them, getting closer and closer to the door with every waltz, until eventually she made it. Slipping through the doorway while she was sure her father was distracted, she turned on her heel and legged it up the stairs, barely managing to not stand on the hem of her skirt with every step.

When she made it out to the balcony, she breathed out a heavy sigh, leaning her back against the door to slam it shut. Her heart thrummed in her chest as she crossed the balcony, the cold night air cooling her heated skin as she took a seat upon the balcony railing. Her ears were ringing, and she had no idea how loud the music had been. So loud, even, that for a second the voices of the arriving guests below her were but a whisper. That was, until her ears adjusted.

She peeked below her feet, gripping on to the stone railing so that the vertigo from the height didn't send her hurtling forward and plummeting down. She heard her name spoken a few times, always in a hushed tone, like her very existence was a swear word only to be whispered under one's breath.

She scanned over the people, most of which she recognised from other formal events. After a while, the men all grew to look the same, with their slicked back hair and black suits, stiff upper lips and weak chins. But the girls! The girls were always a sight to behold, each of them with a daring dress, plummeting necklines or shortly cut skirts and bright colours complimenting their skin and hair colour. Every girl was different, and never was the same dress seen twice.

She smiled a little sadly as she saw the way the girls beamed at each other, laughing and talking hurriedly, as if everything they said had to be shot out into the world in a spitfire blast, so fast that if you blinked, you'd miss it. Secrets were whispered and jokes were yelled and snide remarks were muttered and later laughed at – it was glorious! As Pacifica continued to marvel at the ladies appearing through the wrought iron gate at the bottom of the lane, a flash of brilliant blue caught her eye, and her gaze shot to a girl halfway up the path. Her hair was falling down around her shoulders in tremulous brown curls, her arm wrapped around that of a boy just a few centimetres shorter than she. Her dress was the same blue as the midday sky, pulled tight at the waist with a silver ribbon and cascading down her long legs in a waterfall of flowing blue fabric.

For a moment, Pacifica was _livid_. No one was allowed to wear blue to the parties thrown in her honour, because that was _her_ colour. She stared down at the dress, eyes narrowing in on the girl wearing it. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had looked awful on her, but with her willowy arms and long legs it simply couldn't have looked more _divine_. She scowled at the girl, fuming that she either didn't _know_ or didn't _care_ that she was not permitted to wear blue on this night. A fierce snarl rose in her throat.

Only to die on her lips. Her gaze travelled upwards, past a sweetheart neckline, past a small silver pendant, and latching on to a perfectly crooked, deliriously happy smile.

Mabel Pines.


End file.
